Local Authority Empowerment towards Quality Living Environment for Coastal Reclamation Area

Abstract

Abstract. Good urban governance administration system is the key to a successful physical planning development. A local authority of a local government concentrates on planning administration and executes the policies and strategies either the federal or state, or even the local's policies and strategies. Based on its characteristic as the lowest level of government, it becomes the best authority to regulate and monitor the development process within their territory. The significance of a local authority in providing quality living environment invites various academia and professionals to ponder the best urban governance system at a local level. However, there are issues with regards to financial and technical capacity of a local authority, its legal limitation and development instrument adopted in providing urban services for coastal reclamation area in Malaysia. The aim of this paper is to investigate the capability of local authorities in Malaysia in implementing their function as drawn by the legislation. Hence, this paper examines the roles and functions of a local authority as the lowest level of government administration agency in providing urban services; collecting revenue; safeguarding the physical environment in Malaysia, particularly when dealing with development in a coastal reclamation area. Primary data collection was gathered through face-to-face interview sessions involving government agencies and stakeholders. Legal documents, policies and development plans were then analysed to support the primary data for further understanding of the issues concerning the capacity of a local authority especially when providing urban services within its area. The study is expected to provide a new approach to local authorities in Malaysia in providing quality living environment in terms of development procedure, the role and function, legal empowerment, and decentralisation of function particularly in enhancing the current practices at local level.

Low Carbon City (LCC) Governance through Administrative and Operational Approaches by Malaysian Local Government

“…Schrage & Kjaeras emphasized that understanding local climate governance patterns may be an effective measurement to be considered a practical approach in governing low-carbon cities [33]. In addition, improving the management aspect may lead to the success of low-carbon city governance [34]. According to Figure 1 below, several criteria must be considered contributing to the changing of low-carbon governance.…”

“…al, every local authority has its functions and responsibilities in achieving state targets. Thus to develop the best way to the administrative system of low-carbon cities, the local authority may improve one of the criteria to practice a better administration approach [34]. Source: Abdullah et al [35] The Federal Department of Town and County Planning governs urban development at the local level.…”

“…To achieve efficiency towards low-carbon governance, there must be strong cooperation between various stakeholders to shift the city and enables different actors to achieve the best way of operating the approach and policy-making [29]. Excellent urban governance and administration systems can bring success toward physical development [34]. Figure 2 below simplifies the overview of the administrative approach to delivering the Low Carbon City (LCC) at the local government level.…”

Determining Low Carbon City (Lcc) Indicators for Governance at Local Government in Malaysia

“…They believed that in the LCC approach, governance should pay attention to the process of LCC delivery, covering not only the management process but also the resources and planning. According to Yusup et al (2016), every local authority has its functions and responsibilities for achieving state targets. Because of that, to enhance the value of the administrative system for low-carbon cities, it is suggested that the local authority consider enhancing its administrative structure as one of the criteria for implementing a more effective administrative strategy (Yusup et al, 2016).…”

“…According to Yusup et al (2016), every local authority has its functions and responsibilities for achieving state targets. Because of that, to enhance the value of the administrative system for low-carbon cities, it is suggested that the local authority consider enhancing its administrative structure as one of the criteria for implementing a more effective administrative strategy (Yusup et al, 2016). According to Figure 5 below, Abdullah et al (2022a) have identified fourteen( 14) variables that can be adopted by the local authorities in governing the nation or city, including the guideline as the basis for the authorities, benchmarking the best practices, a system as the database, a zone to implement the suitable mechanism, the sources of funding, the collaboration between stakeholders, a champion who can derive the changes, key performance indicators to evaluate the performance in achieving the target, procurement that influences the minimal impact, especially toward the environment, monitoring approaches, a strategy included in the work plan, job description to highlight the scope of work, and finally the capacity building to empower the human resources.…”